Ocado - Hacks, Tips, and Smart Pass Rip-offs Thread 9

[GaryUnicorn]

Carrying on from the old thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4104964-Ocado-tips-tricks-subs-M-S-shortbread-giveaways-and-defectors

Give a vague area of where you live, or first part of postcode, and how much you pay for your smart pass. They seem to charge how much they think we will pay.

London, SE23 : £9.99 for an anytime pass. Customer for 10+ years.

@JustWonderingIfYou

Ocado have just called to say my smart pass is increasing from 2.99 to 8.99! 300% increase.

They said all promotional offer prices are going and everyone will be on 8.99.

Anyone else heard this?

Me too and I've emailed to cancel. It's the final straw as I've been disappointed with M&S products and the price rises and found Waitrose Essentials better value. Waitrose delivery has been rubbish in the past in my area but I'll give it a go.

You don't need any ' smart pass'. You can simply pay for any orders placed, however infrequently you need to.

@Violetlavenders

You don't need any ' smart pass'. You can simply pay for any orders placed, however infrequently you need to.

You do if you want a reserved delivery and a Christmas slot.

Yes true, but i don't feel it's worth paying that much more a Christmas slot!

There's lots of available delivery slots without the need for a 'smart pass' including free ones if you spend more than £75z.

@Violetlavenders

Yes true, but i don't feel it's worth paying that much more a Christmas slot!

There's lots of available delivery slots without the need for a 'smart pass' including free ones if you spend more than £75z.

Bear in mind not all Ocado customers are created equal. Whilst you can see free ones many people cant see any slots, free or otherwise. It's still very much up in the air in my area.

I'm not championing Ocado in any way, God knows I've had the mother of all battles with them over the last few months, but the benefits of a £3.99 a month pass currently far outweigh not having one in my area. I admit if I can book a Waitrose slot I will always cancel my reserved slot, but for a £1 a week I'm happy to do that and I think it's fully worth it.

Bear in mind not all Ocado customers are created equal. Whilst you can see free ones many people cant see any slots, free or otherwise.

Really? I wonder what determines whether customers have access to free slots?!

When I placed my recent order there was only one free slot and it was at about 10-11pm one night, otherwise the cheapest slot was £3.99 and on a Tuesday night so I may as well pay £3.99 for a midweek pass even if only doing two deliveries a month.

@Violetlavenders

Bear in mind not all Ocado customers are created equal. Whilst you can see free ones many people cant see any slots, free or otherwise.

Really? I wonder what determines whether customers have access to free slots?!

I'd love to know their algorithms. I imagine they are the same ones that work out who gets the £2.99 pass and who gets the £8.99 pass, who gets offered a Christmas slot at the start of September and who is held back until October etc. Sorting customers is something Ocado have done for a while, it just became much more apparent last year through lockdown when people started to compare.

That said, there seems to be anecdotal evidence that Ocado are pushing with the new customers so they are seeing more slots at the moment than longstanding smart pass holders.

I guess it really boils down to 'none of us are equal' with them.

I’ve had an email today saying my midweek smartpass is increasing from £2.99 to £3.99. It says they are simplifying their smartpass charges to £3.99 for midweek and £8.99 for anytime. I can manage a £1 increase and there does seem to be a lot better availability of slots now.

So I’d asked to switch from any time pass to midweek, with effect from next payment, due on 16th April.
I had an order booked on Tue 30th, but when I tried to change it to Sun 4th (Easter Sunday!!!) it said min order for free delivery would be £75, so they’ve apparently moved me over already
(Actual date didn’t matter, & later is better because freezer is rammed currently, but I just thought I should squeeze one more weekend delivery out of them )
Anyway have changed it to Mon 5th and that was fine. Lots of dates available, which was good to see.

My Smart Pass renewal date (as confirmed on my membership page) has come and gone. I never did get an email about it renewing or my new price - but they've taken £2.99 as always. Wondering when - or if - I'm going to get the "standard price" email.

£5.99 Cambs. I'm not impressed with M&S at all, the ocado range has shrunk, but the convenience of the recurring slot auto filled every fortnight is too much to walk away.

I was paying £6.49/month for a midweek smart pass in Norfolk. When I pointed out that on their website it states that I should be paying £3.99/month they have quickly reduced my monthly payments. They have also refunded two months worth of smart pass payments.
I'm not overly enamoured with the M&S stuff, but I have appreciated not having to go out for grocery shopping over the last year. They only missed one delivery totally!

In todays delivery I ordered Lancashire bottom muffins and got hot cross buns.

Dont they know that one is savoury although is nice with jam on top, but you cant put a friend egg on top of a hotcross bun

My Smart Pass is currently £4.99 Anytime.

Previously it was £1.99 price locked in for 18 months and they had given me three free months before that due to some issue that I can't remember now.
They now seem to be emailing me quarterly to say it's being renewed, and it's been that price for about a year. previously I'm sure renewals were only done annually, no idea why they are emailing me quarterly now.
Will update when they next contact me about it.

Still having issues with poor stock levels, often basics. I've signed up to Waitrose but can't get a slot...

Got butterkist toffee popcorn in shopping today (didn't order it and it's not on receipt)... are they attempting to gas light me because I was SO annoyed with them recently for telling me the cheddar was unavailable and there were no suitable substitutes?! NO CHEDDAR?

I’ve not had an ocado order in 6 weeks now, I cancelled my smart pass. I was so unimpressed by the M&S range and more limited ocado range plus prices seem to have increased a lot . I only miss apricot croissants from Ocado and I’m on a diet so can’t eat them anyway. I do twice weekly Waitrose orders and an odd sainsburys one and actually go to the shops as I’m now vaccinated. My shopping costs have reduced by at least 10%. The food I’m eating as longer dates, much fresher and far less bothersome dealing with Waitrose than ocado

I've been a customer around 10 years & on a £3.99 anytime pass for as long as I can remember. I'm in Essex, just received an e-mail it's going up to £8.99. I won't be paying that... I'm glad I found this thread as I thought they were doing it as I'd annoyed them by requesting refunds. I've had a ridiculous amount of breakages lately. Always at least one bag full of liquid dripping over everything.

@Sowhatywhaty it’s interesting how they are dealing with the price hikes first - I was on £9.99 and had to email to ask for a price reduction... will hold on for a little longer then cancel too.

I notice that fresh yeast and Baxter’s soup is back in stock.

I am in the South East, email received today advising my Anytime Pass is increasing from 5.99 to £8.99. I like the convenience of having a weekend delivery but I may cancel or change to a weekday delivery.

I've just cancelled mine. Very long-standing customer and I've paid varying amounts over the last 10+ years, but £2.99 Anytime for the last 4 years.
Slots were few and far between for me during the last year. Even now, my next slot is 6 days away, so I'm not happy to pay 3x the amount for that kind of 'availability'.
Customer services were completely unable to understand what I was saying and just spouted stats at me and couldn't care less that I was cancelling.
The icing on the cake was that they cancelled my smart pass with immediate effect despite only paying my last fee 5 days ago.
I miss the old Ocado! Customer service is really poor now, availability of food is poor, M&S food is poor... Just rubbish!

Kitkatty that is crap.

What did they do about any outstanding orders after they cancelled pass with immediate effect? Did they retrospectively apply a delivery charge?

I didn't have any orders placed so I'm not sure what would have happened if I had. I sent a curt email and got my £2.99 refunded out of principle!
Going to try Waitrose instead.

That is off they stopped it straight away . I cancelled mine after they charged me 10.99 but i can still use it for a month. Also just got the app back finally now after i've cancelled.